In view of the dramatic changes in international geopolitics and frequent regional conflicts, the government continues to strengthen the energy of homeland defense, emphasizing the integration of military and civil defense resources to achieve "whole-of-society defense resilience." In response to civil defense mobilization, Deputy Minister of the Interior Ma Shiyuan revealed that the Ministry of Interior aims to achieve the long-term goal of "relying on civilian power" of 800,000 and "land defense manpower" of 6 million in the future, especially the former. In addition to the national army, the sum of disaster prevention personnel, volunteers, substitutes and various NGOs will serve as the foundation of civil defense.
The "Magnificent Taiwan" Alliance held the launch ceremony of "Taiwan-EU Resilience Exchange" and the International Symposium on Volunteer Management at National Chengchi University Public Enterprise Center today (14th). Alliance founder Wu Yinong, Undersecretary of the Interior Ma Shiyuan, Director of the Fire Department Xiao Huanzhang, Director of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Gu Lizhe and others participated in the grand event.
In his speech at the launching ceremony, Deputy Minister of the Interior Ma Shiyuan said that to measure Taiwan's social resilience, the first is the "bubble milk tea" that represents the normal operation of society, the second is the "motorcycle" that represents the normal operation of life, and the last is "volunteers." In addition, Taiwan's natural disasters often make it easier for the society to unite, "but aggression is difficult." Because the domestic people are divided on the political spectrum, social resilience does not distinguish between positions. In the face of aggression, in addition to the Ministry of National Defense's increased deterrence, the second most important thing is confidence. We must have the confidence to defend the island.
Ma Shiyuan further pointed out that the Ministry of Interior has its own data target for "reliable civilian power", which is 3.5% of Taiwan's total population, equivalent to approximately 800,000 people. As a milestone for effectively training volunteers and civil defense forces, it is higher than the previous 400,000 to 600,000 people; followed by the total population 25%, about 6 million "homeland defense manpower", including the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, medical staff, civil servants and volunteers, but he admitted that he is still looking for feasible methods to integrate various resources and operate in parallel with the national defense system. This is the current issue of the Ministry of the Interior.
As for the personnel included in the "people's strength that can be relied upon", Ma Shiyuan later added in an interview that based on the argument of Harvard University professor Erica Chenoweth, it is "voluntary firefighting, civil defense, alternative service", "disaster prevention personnel" who will be trained and qualified in the future, plus the total number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs); in other words, this part defines the basic number of "unarmed personnel" other than the national army to invest in civil defense work, and 3.5% of the total population should become a solid foundation for civil defense.
